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Company at the same price, and if it had in fact exacted a higher charge, must make refund to that extent.

That case is much stronger than the one before us. Here the competitors of the complainants at Lynchburg were accorded upon all shipments for the space of about one year a rate 13 cents per hundred pounds lower than the law permitted. During that period the complainants were obliged to pay upon their shipments 13 cents per hundred pounds more in comparison with the rate of their competitors than they should have paid. They should now be allowed to recover as damages the excess so paid by them which amounts in the present case to $130.

Both parties claim to recover in respect of the 17 carloads which were partly unloaded at Danville, but in our opinion. neither is entitled to anything in that behalf. While the complainants have apparently paid for the transportation of bananas from Lynchburg to Danville which were in fact never transported, the result to them is the same in money and more favorable in convenience than as though the entire carload had been sent to Lynchburg and the half reshipped.

According to the published schedules of the defendant the complainants should have paid the less than carload rate from Charleston to Danville upon the 10,000 pounds which were taken out there and the less than carload rate to Lynchburg upon the remaining 10,000 which went through and this would aggregate considerably more than the freight actually paid. If the car had been opened and the half taken out without the knowledge or consent of the defendant it might probably now recover the schedule rate, but the defendant must be held in this case to have consented to what was done. If the complainants have not in fact paid the lawful rate the defendant was a party to the illegal transaction and can claim no benefit from its own wrong.

The defendant will be ordered to pay the complainants on or before August 1, 1904, the sum of $130 with interest from April 24, 1903.

10 I. C. C. REP.

No. 632.

JOHN W. BLACKMAN, JR.,

v.

THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY.

No. 639.

JOHN W. BLACKMAN, JR.,

v.

THE COLUMBIA, NEWBERRY & LAURENS RAILROAD COMPANY.

Decided June 29, 1904.

1. A railroad freight depot and a public storage warehouse are not used for similar purposes, and the charge for storage in the railroad depot may properly be made higher than the public warehouse charge with the object of compelling the expeditious removal of freight.

2. The So. Ry. Co. in applying to complainant's interstate traffic at Macon, Ga., the storage rates prescribed by the Georgia Railroad Commission, and the C., N. & L. R. Co. in applying to complainant's interstate traffic at Columbia, S. C., the storage rates prescribed by the South Carolina Railroad Commission, although such storage rates were in excess of the usual public warehouse charges in Macon and Columbia, did not violate the Act to regulate commerce.

3. Storage rates and regulations enforced by common carriers subject to the Act to regulate commerce must be published at their stations and filed with this Commission.

James McConnell for complainant.

Ed Baxter and Claudian B. Northrup for the Southern Ry. Co.

Ed Baxter for the Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railroad Company.

REPORT AND OPINION OF THE COMMISSION.

FIFER, Commissioner:

John W. Blackman, Jr., is a dealer in sugar and molasses, whose principal office is in New Orleans, Louisiana, and who ships the goods, in which he deals, by railroad from that city to market points in other states of the United States. In this petition he sets forth that about November 1, 1901, he shipped by the line of the Southern Railway Company and other railway lines connecting therewith, five barrels of sugar from New Orleans to Macon, Georgia, the five barrels weighing 1920 pounds; that, the sugar having arrived at Macon on or about November 25, 1901, the consignees refused to accept the shipment, and owing to a decline in market price, complainant was unable to dispose of the sugar until on or about February 6, 1902, during which time it remained in the depot of the defendant, the Southern Railway Company, that this defendant compelled complainant to pay for transporting and storing the sugar the published rate for transportation, and in addition $11.85, which charge was made for storage.

The complainant avers that this charge for storage was unreasonable and unjust, and that a reasonable and just charge for the service would have been 60 cents.

It is further set forth by the complainant that the defendant is a member of the Southeastern Car Service Association, composed of railway companies doing business in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, and has established rates and regulations for the storage of freight in the depots of its members, which rates and regulations are enforced by defendant at its depot in Macon, Georgia; and it is averred that by virtue of these rules and regulations the charge made for storing sugar in barrels is one cent per day for each 100 pounds, which is excessive, unreasonable and unjust; that the charges exacted by other common carriers who do business in States other than Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, for storing sugar in barrels is four cents per barrel for each month; that the defendant had the right to charge for storage on the sugar as it remained over the time limit, but that it had no right to charge more than the usual public

warehouse charges in force at Macon, which were and are much lower than one cent per 100 pounds per day.

It is alleged that no charge for storage is published by the defendant as a terminal charge, although such publication is required by the Act to regulate commerce. It is alleged that by charging the complainant $11.85 as stated, and by exacting rates for storage as already set forth, the defendant has been and is violating the Act to regulate commerce.

The complainant prays that after hearing and investigation an order may be made commanding the defendant to cease and desist from the aforesaid violations of the Act to regulate commerce and to make reparation to the complainant for the storage charges unlawfully collected.

The same complainant John W. Blackman, Jr., also makes a complaint against the Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railroad Company similar to that against the Southern Railway Company, and in respect to the unlawful collection by the defendant railway of $3.85 storage on 10 barrels of molasses from New Orleans to Columbia, South Carolina.

In the matter of this complaint relief is asked from the Commission in terms the same as those used in the complaint against the Southern Railway Company, and the two cases have been and will be considered together.

FACTS.

The complainant shipped five barrels of sugar from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Macon, Georgia, over the line of the Southern Railway Company and connecting lines. Owing to a misunderstanding as to the terms of sale of the sugar, the consignment remained in the defendant's depot at Macon about two months beyond the time limit allowed by the company, and a storage charge of $11.85 was laid upon the sugar, the payment of which was exacted upon the delivery of the shipment by defendant.

The complainants shipped ten barrels of molasses from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Columbia, South Carolina, over the line of the Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railway Company and connecting lines. There was a misunderstanding as to terms of

sale and, during the adjustment of the matter, six or seven days elapsed over the time allowed by the railroads, and an extra charge for storage was made amounting to $3.85.

Both of the defendant railroads are members of the Southeastern Car Service Association, formed for the purpose of controlling charges for storage. A circular issued by this Association July 18, 1901, fixes storage charges for time periods beyond the free limit allowed by the various railways, as follows: For 5 days and under, 1 cent per 100 pounds per day; 5 to 10 days, 6 cents; 10 to 20 days, 8 cents; 20 to 30 days, 10 cents; 30 to 40 days, 13 cents; 40 to 50 days, 15 cents; each additional week or fraction thereof, 10 cents per 100 pounds; minimum charge 5 cents; not more than $1.00 per day for any consignment not in excess of a carload, $1.00 per day being the demurrage charge per car.

The storage regulations in effect on the lines of the Southern and of the Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railroad Company in Georgia and South Carolina are enforced by the adoption by these carriers of the rates and regulations prescribed by the Railroad Commissioners of these States.

The defendant, the Southern Railway Company, publishes through the Southeastern Car Service Association, and files with the Interstate Commerce Commission, the rates and regulations for storage prescribed by the Georgia Railroad Commission and adopted by this defendant in its practice. The defendant, the Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railroad Company, does not publish through the Southeastern Car Service Association nor file with the Interstate Commerce Commission the rates and regulations for storage charges which, as to Columbia, S. C., the destination involved in this proceeding, are those prescribed by the South Carolina Railroad Commission.

The New Orleans Car Service Association fixes a tariff for storage in New Orleans affecting all roads entering that city. These rates are lower than those of the Southeastern Car Service Association. The tariff of the New Orleans Car Service Association imposes on all freights except hay, grain, and shipstuffs for the first 15 days after the free limit, 1 cent per 100 pounds and for each additional 10 days or a fraction thereof, 34-cent

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